1. 38
www.opi.net
T
here’s probably no better cautionary tale
about the brutal effect digitisation can
have on a company’s business model
than the story of Kodak. The quick spread
of digital cameras from the late 1990s onwards
effectively rendered Kodak’s print films – its main
source of revenue – obsolete, thereby triggering its
subsequent demise.
Is it so surprising that people ran away from
analogue cameras? In hindsight, it is obvious that
the user experience of photography development
was a disastrous one: highly troublesome and costly.
The journey from purchasing the film to having it
developed needed several intermediary steps to get
to the final, desired result. And there was no particular
enjoyment in the process – the journey definitely was
not the destination.
Indeed, disintermediation is one of the main
effects – beneficial or detrimental – of digitisation. In
today’s world, taking photographs is instantaneous and
it doesn’t incur any additional cost. Digitisation allowed
for a radical suppression of all intermediary steps
previously needed in the analogue age.
A QUESTION OF RELEVANCE
Ever since Kodak’s freefall, every company born in
the analogue era should constantly question itself
about its attractiveness and relevance. In Pilot’s case:
could handwriting be a troublesome intermediary step
that people are eager to get rid of?
It is almost a Pavlovian reaction from many
observers as well as the media when they consider
the topic of handwriting and digitisation in the same
conversation. Expressions like “The writing’s on
the wall”, “Replacement by smartphones, tablets,
keyboards and phablets...” pop up almost as
knee-jerk responses.
But is this really happening? Let’s look at the facts
and figures, because there is no doubt in Pilot’s
mind that there is a place in today’s world for writing
instruments. Or is that just wishful thinking?
According to research firm GfK, the writing
instruments market in Europe has been growing
healthily over the past five years: between 15% and
20% both in volume and in value. Pilot has contributed
its fair share to this growth. At the same time, of
course, the global market for tablets, smartphones,
phablets, etc also continued to grow.
At the very least, what these market dynamics show is
that there is no direct, established correlation or conflict
between digitisation and the writing instruments sector –
it’s just perception that the two should be linked in some
way. In other words, the old definitely doesn’t make
way for the new and there’s no tradition (ie handwriting)
versus practicality (ie digital devices) scenario. It’s
possible to enjoy using a tablet as well as a pen.
Are digitisation and handwriting
contradictory terms? Not at
all, says Pilot Corporation of
Europe. The secret lies in the
convergence between the digital
and the physical world…
VENDOR PROFILE
ENJOY the ride

2. VENDORPROFILEPilotCorporationofEuropeDecember/January2016/17
39
TOWARDS A ‘PHYGITAL’ WORLD
Consider the tremendous success of the Cultura
chain in France (see main image, left). One of Pilot
Pen France’s key customers, Cultura started as an
arts and crafts store in 1998, precisely the time when
the internet started to spread in Europe.
Now 18 years later and Cultura owns nearly
70 outlets across France. Entering one of them is
like an ode to the analogue world: books made
of non-digital paper, board games made of
old-fashioned cardboard, wood and plastic, musical
instruments made of real wood… A huge proportion
of the shelves at Cultura are dedicated to creative
stationery, arts and crafts, scrapbooking, and writing
and colouring instruments.
This fondness of ‘physical’ leisure activities is
not limited to the French market, but can be seen
across Europe: Empik in Poland, Abacus in Spain,
Idee-Shop or Boesner in Germany, Feltrinelli
or Carturesti in Romania – all these chains are
testimony to the fact that creative leisure activities
are very much alive and kicking.
This comes as no surprise to Pilot. We know from
experience that the use of writing instruments is far
from being motivated just by a sole functional need.
Creating new enjoyable writing experiences is deeply
rooted in our DNA.
All that said, the sector as a whole certainly faces
some serious obstacles and nowhere more so
than in the B2B channel. Office supplies resellers
in Europe have been facing challenges over the
past few years. Current trends seem to indicate that
writing instruments have become less important
where handwriting fulfills more of a functional need,
while they have lost none of their magic when it
comes to an enjoyable and/or useful experience.
The latter is evident particularly in the education
sector: parents, teachers as well as children all
recognise the many benefits of handwriting – its
multi-modal dimension and its role in developing fine
motor skills, touch, movement and thinking.
A NEW REALM OF OPPORTUNITIES
At Pilot, we have long acknowledged the importance
of being positive about the changes brought about
by the age of digitisation. We want to explore the
whole realm of digital possibilities that can then be
turned to our advantage.
The most obvious opportunity lies in the increase
of online shopping. It’s become a booming everyday
reality, and even outside of pure players such as
Amazon most traditional resellers have developed
already or are now creating online shopping websites.
And all of them require their manufacturer partners to
have a central set of product data to feed information
to their online platforms.
To aid with these requirements – and recognising
the need to dealing efficiently with its trading partners 100
120
Oct 2011-Sept 12 Oct 12-Sept 13 Oct 13-Sept 14 Oct 14-Sept 15 Oct 15-Sept 16
115
110
105
The evolution of the writing
instruments market
Base: 100
In value (€)
Market of: ballpoint pens, rollerballs,
markers, felt pens, highlighters, mechanical
pencils, fountain pens, roller refills
Area: France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy,
Spain, Belgium, Greece, Romania , Poland
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118
– Pilot is currently
transforming its processes.
A new product information management
system is currently being put in place in order to be
able to work better with online shopping platforms, in
the B2C as well as B2B area.
Increased exposure is another opportunity offered
by online communication channels. There are many
communities of stationery and pen lovers on social
networks – simply type #handwriting on a social
platform and you will see physical creations that find
tremendous exposure online.
For the first time in 2017, Pilot will produce original
and entertaining brand content to maximise the
presence of its Pilot FriXion range online and celebrate
its 10th anniversary. Each month, a short animated film
featuring a different FriXion pen will be released.
Digitisation can also help ‘augment’ the physical
handwriting and drawing experience. This approach
took concrete shape in 2016 at Pilot with the launch
of the FriX’Book, a colouring book that comes with
a set of Pilot FriXion Colours and a free app. Once a
page has been coloured, the app makes it come to
life. Each page is an episode of a story, so that the
whole book is like an animated short film that has been
coloured by the author. Pilot’s FriX’Book shows how
the digital and physical worlds can be combined to
make an enjoyable ‘phygital’ experience.
Pilot believes that writing instruments will continue to
play an essential role and that, unlike Kodak’s print films,
with handwriting the journey is still the destination.
Pilot’s FriX’Book
launched in 2016
Source: GfK
We want to explore the whole realm
of digital possibilities that can then
be turned to our advantage

3. VENDORPROFILEPilotCorporationofEurope
40
www.opi.net
W
hat is digitisation bringing to the
writing instruments table? OPI
speaks to Ken Schoellhammer,
European Brand Manager at Pilot
Corporation of Europe to find out.
OPI: Digitisation and writing instruments – can the
two work together?
Ken Schoellhammer: They absolutely can. Digitisation
is a tsunami that we can’t fight against. It’s about
adapting and it’s about variety. Pilot has been part of
the writing instruments sector for almost 100 years. The
market is doing fine currently and is well-managed.
We want to be very positive and embrace digitisation,
rather than considering it a threat.
OPI: Has digitisation had any impact on your
business in terms of revenues?
KS: No, we haven’t seen any negative effect. Our
revenues are increasing year on year; it’s a gradual
increase, but we’re definitely growing.
What we are seeing, however, is that our customers
– the office supplies resellers – are facing challenges
and we believe that’s very much due to pure online
sales players like Amazon which is becoming a major
competitor to them and a real threat.
OPI: Where’s your channel focus now?
KS: We’ve historically been very focused on the office
channel and were perhaps less visible in B2C. But this
has really balanced out and we’re now becoming a
very strong B2C brand as well, due in large part to our
FriXion range. Since we launched that range about ten
years ago, we’ve been really pushing the B2C channel.
Our revenues are now higher in B2C versus B2B and
we understand that B2C is where our growth engine is.
OPI: Is that push a result of digitisation, in terms of
exposure on social media, etc?
KS: Definitely in terms of having an all-round
integrated campaign. We are still going on TV in many
countries such as the UK, France, Italy and Spain, but
all our TV campaigns are complemented by online
activities. Digitisation has essentially multiplied the
number of contact lines to our customers in general
and specifically the general public.
OPI: How should manufacturers of writing
instruments approach the topic of digitisation in
your opinion?
KS: Positively. Don’t be fearful or defensive about
digitisation, but regard it as an opportunity rather
than a threat. One important aspect to bear in mind
is that the digital transformation is not a technical
revolution, it is a cultural one. It’s a transformation
that Pilot intends to achieve by being adaptive
and inventive, and by finding in the digital realm
new ways to boost our business, bring more
entertainment to our fan base and enhance the
physical experience.
We believe that the ‘phygital’ convergence is a
goldmine of new experiences yet to be imagined
and designed, and that there are still endless ways in
which we can turn digitisation to the good old pen’s
advantage.
OPI: How do you instil this positive attitude within
Pilot as an organisation?
KS: It’s an ongoing process and we are still working
on this transformation. And clearly, it’s an everyday
challenge as the digital world itself changes all the
time. But what I find has been a real positive at Pilot
is that the concept has the total support of the Pilot
Corporation of Europe board. For example, this new
software programme with all the product information
that we are implementing – it’s part of our mid-term
plan. The transformation into a so-called ‘phygital’
operator is one of the pillars of Pilot’s strategy and
having the support of the top management is
vital to be able to achieve that.
OPI: Finally, what does the future
hold for writing instruments in your
opinion?
KS: That’s a difficult question. First of all,
we have to continue to believe that writing
instruments still have a place in people’s
daily life. The figures show us that they
do. And it’s really important to keep being
innovative and disruptive. Pilot launched
some groundbreaking innovations over
the past few decades. In the 1980s it
was liquid ink, in the 1990s gel ink
and in the noughties it was thermal
ink with the FriXion range.
So I hope that the next
big innovation will come
soon. But apart from
physical, chemical
or mechanical
changes, the most
important thing
is to explore the
physical/digital
convergence that
I mentioned.
Pilot’s convergence
Ken Schoellhammer
We have to continue to believe
that writing instruments still have a
place in people’s daily life. The
figures show us that they do